Frozen pipes flood spaces

A brief daytime break from freezing temperatures is breaking pipes across the Sound.

In Kenmore, restoration crews were prepping to pull out insulation and ceiling tile from three spaces that flooded Thursday evening.

"There's like a 6-inch wall of water throughout 50 feet of space there that came rushing out." Said James Mahar, who has a chiropractic office a few doors down. He was at work when the manager of an empty space found a pipe, broken in five places, was flooding the building.

"I've been in this building 20 years and I've never seen anything like that." He said.

Daniel Wright has. This is the sixthcall out for his cleaning and restoration crew this week.

"It can be tens of thousands of dollars. It's a lot of money." Said Wright.

Water in a pipe freezes and expands to a diameter wider than the pipe itself, causing it to break. When temperatures thaw out, the water rushes out.

Residents were close to a catastrophe at an Issaquah home where the exterior pipe to a garden hose froze. Weld marks show where the pipe was fixed the last time it burst. This time, the plumbers were called in time to flush the ice out.

"This more than a success on the customer's part. No damage was done." Said Kris Jones, with Steves Plumbing.

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Frozen pipes flood spaces